"The LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil."-Genesis 2

*got an autograph book called "Over the Top" by him when I working with a temp agency in the Twin Cities during the summer of 96'. He wrote a Bible verse along with his autograph, which I didn't take notice later on.

"The American system of government is founded on two counterbalancing principles: that the majority of the people governs, through democratically elected representatives; and that the power even of a democratic majority must be limited, to ensure individual rights."Minnesota Chapter
-Schools

Why does religion cause wars?

A pastor and a soap maker went for a walk together. The soap maker said, "what good is religion? Look at all the trouble and misery of the world! Still there, even after years--thousands of years--of teaching about goodness and truth and peace. Still there, after all the prayers and sermons and teachings. If religion is good and true, why should
this be?" The pastor said nothing. They continued walking until he noticed a child playing in the gutter.
Then the pastor said, "Look at that child. You say that soap makes people clean, but see the dirt on that youngster. Of what good is soap? With all the soap in the world, over all these years, the child is
still filthy. I wonder how effective soap is, after all! The soap maker protested. "But, Pastor, soap cannot do any good unless it is used!" "Exactly!" replied the pastor.

"In a economic society where businesses constantly strive to be at the top of their game and experience seems to be one of the all important factors in deciding who is worthy and who is not, it may seem puzzling that anyone would dare to offer an internship position. In actuality though, internships not only make sense for the intern, they are a financially sound decision for the corporation as well. In this post, we briefly discus the reasons for this statement."
-Career/Employment/Jobs

"The 2010 Census is approaching and a Minnesota recruiter will be in Morris in early January to interview people who want to work for the bureau.
A Census Bureau recruiting assistant will be at the Morris Public Library to administer tests on Jan. 6-7.
Tests will be given Jan. 6 at 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m., and on Jan. 7 at 11 a.m.
Those wishing to take a practice test online can find one -- as well as video clips from Census takers and other information about the job -- at www.2010censusjobs.gov.
Walk-ins will be accepted, but the bureau encourages those interested in interviewing and testing for a position to contact the St. Paul office to register, said Rick Freimuth, Local Census Office Manager.
Hiring will be based on the test scores. Applicants who are 17 years old can take the test, but must reach their 18th birthday before they can be hired, he said.
“Get in early, and that way we get to know you,” Freimuth said. “There are advantages to that.”
The Minnesota Census office will be seeking about 8,000 applicants for jobs, and hiring will begin in earnest in February 2009, Freimuth said.
“We’ll be fanning out all across the state, beating the bushes hard to recruit applicants,” he said. “All of January will be a blitz.”
The bureau will be hiring throughout 2009, and more jobs will be available in 2010. For more information about becoming a Census taker, contact the St. Paul office at (612) 216-5950, or the national Census Bureau at (866) 861-2010."

Phone: (651) 431-3030
FAX: (651) 431-7460
e-mail: dhs.merit.system@state.mn.us"
The Minnesota Merit System announces civil service examinations for employment in the social services and human services agencies in 70 of Minnesota's 87 counties. For employment information in counties not covered by the Merit System, contact those county personnel offices directly. "
*referred by Sara K. on Sunday, February 20th 2011

"Where do great employees come from? Right here. With Synico’s unique state-of-the-art training facility, we ensure that candidates come to your place of work dedicated, ambitious and prepared. Whatever your staffing challenge, Synico creates a customized solution and provides you with candidates that can take the job and hit the ground running. It’s a fusion of unparalleled talent and peace of mind for your business."Twitter Site

*contact: Linda Tatem, who has called me twice about job opportunities in sales and customer service (employment opportunities). I've been to their office before during a field trip when I went to St. Paul Public Schools.

"
Minnesota State Income Tax Rates
MN State Tax Rates | MN Tax Calculator | Cost of Living Calculator
Before using our Income Tax Calculator, here are some basic tax principles that you should know. Minnesota state income tax along with a federal tax is usually withheld from your paycheck as you receive it each pay cycle. While the federal income tax rates are set for each income bracket, MN state income tax rates do not necessarily align with the federal figures.
The variable income tax rate for Minnesota is determined by MN state tax legislation. How much income tax that is withheld from your paycheck depends on which tax bracket you fall under. In general the more you make, the more you will be taxed. To find out more about MN income tax, sales tax, W4 forms, 1040 forms, tax returns, current state tax rates and general Minnesota tax information, click here for the M.N Department of Revenue.
How Minnesota State income tax rates are structured
The tax table below will show in detail the Minnesota state income tax rates by income tax bracket(s). There are 3 income tax brackets for Minnesota.
If your income range is between $0 and $19,440, your tax rate on every dollar of income earned is 5.35%.
If your income range is between $19,441 and $63,860, your tax rate on every dollar of income earned is 7.05%.
If your income range is $63,861 and over, your tax rate on every dollar of income earned is 7.85%.
Income tax brackets data as of December 31st, 2004."

What should you do after being laid off? , Posted at: 02/03/2009 5:48 PM
By: Nicole Muehlhausen, Web Producer (KSAX.com)"It's in the news everyday: Layoffs. The number of Americans out of work now stands at 11.6 million. Of those, 2.5 million have lost their jobs in the last five months and behind every pink slip is a worker left to wonder, 'What do I do next?'
In debt, behind on his mortgage, and recently fired from his hospital job, Ervin Lupoe made headlines last month after police said he shot his five children and wife to death before turning the gun on himself.
He and his wife were two of more than 180,000-plus people who have lost their jobs in the last month.
Psychologists said knowing your options are key when coping with a lost job or lost money.
"This is a time to look for solutions and to identify and self defeating thoughts that could lead to self fulfilling prophecies that could lead to failure down the road," explained clinical psychologist Dr. Alden Cass.
Cass suggests that people find a networking group, career counselor, or job recruiter.
To help battle the feeling of helplessness or depression, many career counselors recommend channeling the energy of a lost job into a job search.
"If an individual ever gets to a point where they start to feel helpless or powerless to change a situation, that's when you have to ask for help," Cass said.
Treatment is available at local emergency rooms or mental health facilities or you can call (800) 273-TALK for resources and advice."

*referred by Alex ABE program (literacy project) on Wed. Jan. 6th of 10'"
This site was created by the nonprofit Community Building, inc. … for the unemployed. It has been designed to provide a simple, straight-forward, one-stop shop for information and resources so that the unemployed do not have to scour hundreds of web sites looking for information and services..."

"Produced by global management consulting firm A.T. Kearney and Joint Venture: Silicon Valley Network, the “2002 Workforce Study: Connecting Today’s Youth with Tomorrow’s Technology Careers” finds that a significant correlation exists between a student’s social network and their motivation to pursue education and careers in the technology industry. A student’s social network is composed of his or her parents, family, friends, neighbors, and other social connections through school and community. Put more simply, a social network is a student’s human connections to the real world of work and civic life....
..‘Hard’ skills are essential, but it’s the connections and mentoring that provide information about what skills are necessary and a vision of how acquiring them can lead to new opportunities for all our residents”...
..A prior 1999 Workforce Study [i] found that Silicon Valley faced a significant workforce gap, costing industry $3-4 billion a year. The gap was composed of losses from unfilled positions plus additional salary premiums for workers linked to outside recruitment and commuting costs...
The Role of Social Networks
..Networking, or acquiring a social network, is a key skill of the 21st Century. It’s how you learn, and how you connect. At the Met, a small high school in Providence, RI, kids from grade 9 on are encouraged to find answers to their research questions by telephoning “expert” adults who would know the answer and asking them. Met kids find that adults love to share their knowledge, which in turn makes them more confident to use “networking” as a learning strategy....
Kids at many new small, high schools, like the Met, learn through internships. Kids form human bonds with caring adults, who double as supervisors and mentors. These adults play a significant role in motivating their mentees for learning and connecting them to real college and career opportunities. San Diego’s High Tech High calls “adult immersion” one of its key design principles...

"DEARBORN COUNTY HOSPITAL, LAWRENCEBURG, IN
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Dearborn County Hospital offers a unique four-year internship program beginning with high school students interested in pursuing a health care career. Every fall, the hospital contacts the parents and counselors of every high school junior describing the hospital's internship program. Student's who participate in the program during their junior and senior years of high school have an opportunity to continue working as an intern while obtaining a health care degree after high school graduation. The hospital will pay the cost of their tuition and fees in exchange for a two-year work commitment after graduation. As a result, the hospital currently has no vacancies in its respiratory, x-ray and laboratory departments."

"..For many companies, these developments have also given rise to strategic concerns regarding site selection and staffing, such as: Is the current workforce up to the challenge? What resources will be required to effectively and cost-efficiently train and retrain workers? Which relocation or expansion sites will yield the quality and number of people needed to secure and maintain a competitive advantage?...
The national business agenda has never been more focused on workforce quality and availability. With unemployment at record low levels, the demand for skilled professionals and technicians and experienced, productive workers is at an all-time high. In medical manufacturing and related industries, companies that are relocating or expanding will increasingly be drawn to locations offering a ready pool of well-educated, trainable workers for staffing new operations. This article describes some steps that biomedical or device companies engaged in the site selection process can take to ensure access to a high-quality workforce capable of meeting present and future objectives for productivity and profitability....
GAUGE THE DEPTH OF AN AREA'S LABOR POOL
Low unemployment rates have reduced the number of available employees in most communities. However, given the high levels of experience and skills required by medical device manufacturers and technology-based businesses today, many such companies are choosing not to rely on the unemployed to staff their new operations. They're turning instead to a group that may be overlooked in assessing a community's workforce assets: the underemployed...
..Underemployed workers are those who have the skills, experience, and education to qualify them for higher pay and more-responsible positions. Often called the "hidden workforce," the underemployed tend generally to be well educated, with a wide variety of capabilities and expertise. When finding quality workers is a top site selection priority, the ability to tap a deep and accessible underemployment pool can be a definite advantage. Firms thinking about relocating to an area should ask their site selection consultant to quantify and qualify the underemployed workforce in any community under consideration...
IDENTIFY LOCAL EFFORTS TO PROMOTE A COMPETENCY-RICH WORKFORCE
A quality workforce rarely evolves independently. It is largely built and nurtured through communitywide efforts led aggressively by partnerships among business groups, educational institutions, and local governments. As a technology company puts together a short list of relocation and expansion sites, it should look for local business-backed programs that help introduce students to career options, give them practical experience, and help them bridge the school-to-work gap.
Mentoring and internship programs sponsored by biotech and biomedical research and manufacturing firms (or associations) that expand industry-specific capabilities are also important resources in nurturing a strong workforce. By connecting the high school curriculum with postsecondary technical training and on-the-job experience, public/private partnerships can initiate development of a highly skilled, homegrown workforce ready to step into the technology-based jobs typically created by medical device manufacturers...
ASSESS LOCAL TRAINING AND CONTINUING-EDUCATION INITIATIVES
...Locating in areas that provide such higher-education options for professionals (and, increasingly, for members of their families) gains companies a powerful tool for recruiting and retaining the most talented workers...
SEEK A BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT THAT ATTRACTS TOP WORKERS
Growth-savvy communities often apply the "if you build it, they will come" theory to workforce development... Industry clusters also offer sought-after professionals a sense of community and forums in which to exchange and develop ideas and form mutually beneficial relationships with colleagues....
...Business incubator programs that help uncover sources of venture capital and provide facilities where development work in emerging technologies can go forward are also important resources for device companies looking to relocate for expansion and growth. Similarly, research and development centers that help entrepreneurs bring their ideas to the marketplace and encourage technology transfer are significant assets for companies in which rapid product development is crucial to success. To help them gauge the suitability of a prospective site, companies should:...
CONCLUSION
..The time and effort that a company spends in assessing the pool of workers in a potential relocation or expansion site is an investment that will create valuable long-term returns.

".n general, youth job training programs should emphasize long-term goals such as keeping a young person employed and advancing in the workforce. Although youth in job training programs are giving up the immediacy of a paycheck, the long term benefits of excellent programs can secure better jobs with higher salaries, benefits, and opportunities for advancement..

TIP: Pray to the Lord, check your local newspaper for employment or work force center, or contact me for current UMM Alumns that we still keep in contact to refer. Please feel free to e-mail me any additional advice, resources, job leads, etc.. in the future for current or future students. Ask the people ("it's not what you know, but WHO you know") you know for referals or UMM Career Center to network with UMM alumns who are currently in the job field!

"11 For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord , "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you," declares the Lord ,"-Jeremiah 29

ACTION POINT

We can get very intelectual (secular humanism) with the beliefs of Christianity, but I want to stress what Jesus stood for when he died on the cross; it was symbolizing God's love for YOU and us! Its more than all this apologetics, philosophical, or intelectual "stuff". It's about loving God and loving our neighbor (God's greatest commandment that beat all that legalism and law-Matthew 22:37-40; Romans 13:8&10.